SOUTH JORDAN — Attorney Mike Lee defeated businessman Tim Bridgewater in the Utah GOP Senate primary.
"It looks like we're not going to pull it off," Bridgewater said shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday.
"We fought passionately," he said, adding he had called Lee and conceded the race.
Lee took the stage immediately after talking to Bridgewater, hugged his wife Sharon and their children, and raised his arms in the air.
"People told me it couldn't be done," Lee said. "They're not saying that anymore."
Lee revisited his pro-Constitution campaign platform in addressing the hundreds of supporters who packed the South Jordan meeting hall on election night.
"The answers to the political problems we face in this country are rooted in the Constitution," Lee said. "Truth resonates. … People get it, they feel it."
Bridgewater told the Deseret News he would campaign for Lee if asked. "We had a good conversation. I congratulated him. I endorsed him wholeheartedly," he said. "And I will help him go on to victory in November."
With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Lee had 51.1 percent of the vote to Bridgewater's 48.9 percent.
Lee said he was not surprised at the slim margin separating himself and his opponent, despite some voter surveys that showed him with a near double-digit gap to close in the days leading to the election.
"The polls were all over the place," Lee said. "But in my mind, I came to expect a close race."
Utah GOP Chairman Dave Hansen rolled into Lee's party shortly after Bridgewater made his concession call. Hansen said in spite of a vote that split Republicans who participated in the primary, he thought party faithful would rally in support of Lee come November.
"Everybody is going to get behind Mike," Hansen said. "This isn't a rift in the party, this is a vote that reflects two candidates who had very similar policy outlooks."
Lee said he was looking forward to the time he would have to mount a campaign for the general election after having to scramble following the May Utah Republican convention.
"Our work is a long way from over," Lee said. "But, it's going to be nice to have four and a half months instead of just six weeks."
Bridgewater had stopped just short of giving a concession speech at 10:35 p.m., noting many in the crowd were leaving. "Right now, we're hoping for a miracle," he had said, promising to remain optimistic until the final votes were counted.
The candidate, who twice before had run unsuccessfully for Congress, said, "We're honored to have run a good race, a tough race. I know a lot of people here have put themselves on the line for us."
"I will hold my elected officials' feet to the fire, my senators," Bridgewater said. "Today the will of the people is being ignored," and that's why incumbents are being swept out of office. He said his candidacy represents what's great in this nation, calling himself "a kid who grew up in a trailer park."
There was only polite applause among the supporters still there when Bridgewater urged them to go to work for Lee. But someone shouted, "Thank you, Tim," and the crowd started cheering.
Lee now faces Democrat Sam Granato in November.
In a late Tuesday press release, Granato praised Bridgewater on his "hard-fought" campaign and urged Bridgewater supporters to consider Granato in the general election.
"The answers to our nation's toughest problems are not held exclusively by Democrats or Republicans," Granato said. "If we put partisanship aside, I believe we can develop common sense solutions to the important issues, including a return to fiscal responsibility, sustainable economic growth and long-term job creation. It will take every single one of us, regardless of party affiliation, to develop these sensible solutions for America's future."
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele sent a statement congratulating Lee on his victory.
"Mike Lee is a true limited-government conservative who will fix Washington by working to rein in out-of-control spending, reduce our $13 trillion national debt and lower the tax burden for families and small businesses," Steele said. "I am absolutely confident Mike Lee will be the next senator from Utah, and the Republican Party looks forward to his leadership in the Senate."
U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. and chairman of the Senate Conservatives Fund, also sent his congratulations to Lee.
"Mike came from behind to win this race because of his unwavering support for the Constitution and the principles of freedom," DeMint said in a statement. "Mike was the target of some very malicious campaign attacks, but he kept his focus on fighting for Utah families and prevailed."
A Deseret News/KSL-TV poll released last Friday showed Bridgewater with a nine-point lead, but pollster Dan Jones warned the race was too close to call, with 25 percent of the voters surveyed still undecided.
Bridgewater and Lee ended Sen. Bob Bennett's bid for a fourth term at the GOP state convention in May. Bridgewater finished with 57 percent of the delegate vote, just shy of the 60 percent needed to avoid a primary.
The pair, who had bested Bennett by appealing to the far-right "tea party" wing of the party anxious to oust an incumbent, struggled to differentiate themselves in the primary campaign. Because both share so many of the same conservative views, including returning more power to the states and slashing federal spending, their focus quickly shifted to the personal.
Bridgewater described Lee, an attorney, as a "Washington, D.C., lawyer" and said Congress needed his experience as a small businessman. Lee questioned Bridgewater's efforts to secure federal funding for his business consulting firm's clients.
In the final days before the election, conservative radio talk-show host Bob Lonsberry even played a role. After endorsing Bridgewater, he was fired from KNRS, reportedly for bad ratings.
Lonsberry campaigned for Bridgewater, suggesting in a telephone message he was let go because Lee represented the station's biggest advertiser, radioactive waste disposal company EnergySolutions.
Lee had help from a number of out-of-state groups, including DeMint's Senate Conservatives Fund and the Tea Party Express' Our County Deserves Better PAC. The groups paid for polls and campaign materials, including some opposed to Bridgewater.
Both candidates ended up loaning their campaigns money — Bridgewater $391,000, according to the most recent federal financial disclosure, and Lee $100,000 just days ago, on top of the $25,000 he'd already reported.
The total cost of both their campaigns will easily exceed $1 million.
One of Bennett's early GOP challengers, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, told KSL radio Tuesday he would have won the nomination at the party's convention in May had he not dropped out of the race.
Shurtleff had jumped into the race a year earlier, but left last fall to help with his daughter's treatment for depression. He told the radio station he "regrets a little bit not going to the United States Senate" but knows he made the right decision.
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